Elizabethtown College hosted the New Playwrights Festival 2021 on Feb. 19 and 20 at 8 p.m. This year’s performance was hosted in the Leffler Chapel and Performance Center rather than Tempest Theater to better abide by COVID-19 safety guidelines. Sock & Buskin worked in conjunction with ECTV to stream the shows, as viewership was entirely virtual.

The festival featured five productions written and directed by Etown students, alumni and a professor. The last New Playwrights Festival was in Spring 2019 before the College eliminated the theater department and released its theater faculty.  

For this reason, students were much more involved in the planning and running of the festival. According to senior theater major Erin Vago, around 80 percent of the work for the festival was done by current Etown students. Vago herself was very involved as the production and stage manager for the festival. Working closely with Technical Operations Director Barry Fritz, Vago was also a part of the unofficial planning committee for the festival. She helped decide when auditions would be, what that process would look like this year and facilitated the casting. Vago also helped coordinate the directors and the rehearsal schedule. Her job was to ensure the logistics of the shows were organized, and that everyone knew their entrances and exits and to call technical cues. 

“I didn’t do everything to be in charge,” Vago said, “but if there were concerns people came to me.” 

Vago wrote one of the plays directed in the festival. Her play was directed by a close friend Emmett Ferree, and she appreciated working with someone she trusted. Vago also expressed that it felt like coming full circle, because she had directed a play written by Ferree in the last play festival. 

Beyond directing, Vago also acted and wrote for the last festival. “I have enjoyed being as involved as I wanted to be, which is being as involved as possible,” Vago said. 

Vago has been involved in practically every mainstage show the College has had during her educational career, but especially appreciates the New Playwrights Festival because it provides an opportunity to try different elements of theater with lower stakes. 

Senior theater major Nicole McCauley echoed this sentiment. The previous festival was her first experience with directing when she directed two shows. “It was a good first directing experience because it is lowkey, and you don’t have to need to think about blocking or staging.”

This festival, in addition to directing, McCauley wrote her first play. As someone who is not a fan of writing, she had more fun than expected. 

“Seeing the play I wrote was not as cringey as I thought it would be,” McCauley said. She thought her actors did a very good job with the characters and gave her ideas for how she could revise the play if she wanted to. 

McCauley was more involved with this festival than the previous one. “I don’t want to say it was less organized, but we basically had to replan it,” she said. 

McCauley worked with Vago to handle tasks that in previous years were handled by the theater department faculty. She mentioned it was fortunate that Fritz is still employed at the college to manage Leffler and the Koons Activity Venue as he is really the only remaining theater faculty. “We’re making it work, but it’s not ideal,” she said.

McCauley is nearly finished with her degree, and is working to complete her senior project in her final semester. 

Vago is also a senior, but is in a five year program so will have one more year. Unfortunately, Vago has been dealing with increasing difficulties in completing her degree, even though she is able to according to the College’s statement when they eliminated the theater major. 

Vago has been forced to negotiate for classes, and has even had to supplement her education with a course at another institution. “I’m a fan of creativity. It’s my major.” Vago said, “But when people say ‘we need to be a little creative’ with my major I get a little concerned.” 

All she hopes is that she will be able to get into a good graduate program and will be able to continue her education properly in an environment that prioritizes an education in theater.  

Plays in the New Playwrights Festival 2021 include: 

“In a Bedroom on Tuesday Night” written by Emma Pile and directed by Nicole McCauley. 

“Intrusive Thoughts” written by Emmett Ferree and directed by Katherine Campbell Rossi. 

“Right in the Soul” written by Erin Vago and directed by Emmett Ferree. 

“Rumination” written by Nicole McCauley and directed by Emma Pile. 

“What Melvin Bought for This Week’s Game Night” written by Tyler Rossi and directed by John Rohrkemper.